Well I never, that’s where that town is!

[CormoranStrike]

I have spent fifty years - okay, cumulatively probably just fifty minutes - being utterly convinced Exeter was near Cambridge.

Today I had to check it in a map! Who knew? It’s kind of a Torquay/Plymouth way.

My world is tilting in its axel.

Anyone have other random finds like this?

Shrewsbury is in the Midlands, Red not North West! But yes, not too far from the Welsh border.

@ Aroundtheworldin80moves I’m a bit late to the party and may have missed the answer so apologies in advance, but do you mean Northumbria or Northumberland? There is quite a difference. Northumbria is the old kingdom that did include a lot of current Yorkshire. Northumberland starts north(ish) of Newcastle upon Tyne.

BebePhoque

Oh it’s there too? Marvellous!

BigTrombone

You don’t ever need to know.

Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire.. 2 whole counties that I have no idea where they are

Its true that organisations still use Northumbria in their name- eg Northumbria Police. However Northumbria Police force’s area stretches down south into Teesside, covering quite a bit of old Northumbria as well as current Northumberland.

When I first met my husband, and he told me that he was from County Durham, my first thought was "weird, he doesn't sound Irish" 😆😆😆

But he thought for years that Birmingham was about 20 miles from Bristol, so we are as bad as each other 😆

More on the theme of the thread though/ I find it hard to accept that places like Liverpool and Manchester are in “The North”. They seem midlands-ish to me. But I suppose I am straightening the mainland and making Edinburgh definitely east of Carlisle and the rest 🙄

For a long time (as a child/teenager I hasten to add) I thought Blackpool was on the south coast of England... I think it was because I knew it was a seaside town (from all the times my dad told me it was "like Blackpool illuminations in here" whenever I left a light on) and somehow assumed that seaside towns had to be on the south coast of England. It somehow didn't occur to my young self the whole country is an island... 

There is a Blackpool sands down on the south coast though :)

Where EXACTLY are Wigan / Barnsley / Doncaster??
Roughly on a line between Formby and Grimsby.

HTH

I had relatives from Canada fly into Manchester airport for my wedding near Crawley, thinking it would be a short drive away .

Mind you as a teen I used to think Kent was north of London

I find it hard to accept that places like Liverpool and Manchester are in “The North”. They seem midlands-ish to me.

Well, I live pretty near the points at the centre of Britain and of the U.K. , and Liverpool and Manchester are south of me so you have a point.

In 1972 when I was first married , my husband hired a car to visit my uncle in Scotland. We set off on the M6 and after a while I noticed a sign saying Birmingham 90 miles. Being newlywed I didn’t want him to think I was criticising him so I kept quiet. A bit later there was another sign saying Birmingham 80 miles. This time I spoke. I said ‘I think that we are going the wrong way , we are heading to London’ he replied that he was correct because Scotland is near London🤔. He was quite shocked to find that is was in the opposite direction , north of England.

Perhaps he'd heard of Scotland Yard.

I drove to stay with friends in the north of Scotland not long after passing my test. I knew where I was going (which several of their visitors hadn’t realised and thought they were near edinburgh! They’re nearer to Inverness!) but the state of the roads and lack of service stations was a bit of a shock! You can easily go 100 miles without seeing so much as a cottage!

@cushioncovers the maps that really blow people’s minds are the ones with Australia at the top and the ones with the countries actually to scale - Uk is minuscule on those!

Londonderry is in the north ofnorthern Ireland and therefore cannot possibly be a border town. Why so much trouble during the troubles?

Oh! Northern Ireland is not the top half of the island. Who knew north west Ireland is not northern ireland?

Riv

They are in the north of England, if you take Scotland out of your mental image you might see it better.

This is where having had a map/ journey obsessed grandfather puts me head and shoulders above the rest of ya

I had a mother who would not fly and wasn't keen on ferries so we drove from northern England to Dover to get to Spain/Italy.

Mum also like dot go out on Mother's day, but was not a) an early riser and b) very organised.

We went to Edinburgh one year, it was shut.

@TwoZeroTwoZero Valley Gardens is nice?! 😂 until you get all the drunks in there!! Agree re the castle though, I like it up there. Town centre could be lovely but is ruined by all the idiots who congregate there. Still, could be worse. We could live in Cas 😂

I thought the Isle of Sheppey was north if Scotland.

Doidoit19
@TwoZeroTwoZero Valley Gardens is nice?!
Well, to be fair I've not been for about 6 years and where I live isn't much better either

They are in the north of England, if you take Scotland out of your mental image you might see it better.

Only just, if you drop a line south from Berwick-upon-Tweed to the south coast - by eye Sheffield is pretty near the middle.

Only just, if you drop a line south from Berwick-upon-Tweed to the south coast - by eye Sheffield is pretty near the middle

It's still the north, like places just north of the equator are in the northern hemisphere.

Brunei isn't in the Middle East?? 🤯

And since when do we have a county called Westmoreland? Never heard of it until that map went up!

You are not alone CormoranStrike.

I've spent all my life under the illusion that Exeter is where Ipswich is and vice versa.

Thank God for the invention of the SatNav......

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DON'T USE COUNTIES IN ADDRESSES ANY MORE.

Just saying.